Related

Regional terror group Jemaah Islamiah has replenished its leadership and there are indications the al-Qaeda linked organisation is planning fresh attacks, Singapore's home affairs minister said today.

The stark message from Wong Kan Seng echoes recent warnings from other ministers in Singapore that despite action by anti-terror forces around the region, the terror network, which intends to create a Pan-Islamic state across South-East Asia, has yet to be broken.

"Though some of the Jemaah Islamiah leaders have been caught, younger ones have risen to take their place and sleepers may have been roused to prepare for activation," Wong said at a ceremony to mark Singapore's National Day, which is on August 9.

Wong said key JI plotters - Malaysians Azahari Husin, Noordin Mohamed Top, Dulmatin, and Indonesian Zulkarnaen - were still at large and "are said to be planning the next attack".

He did not elaborate.

The first three are explosives experts, and each is said to have played a key role in the preparation and execution of the Bali bombings in October 2002. Zulkarnaen has been named as the organisation's operations chief, replacing Hambali who was arrested last year.

AdvertisementAdvertisement

Jemaah Islamiah has been blamed for the Bali blasts that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, and the August 2003 suicide bombing at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people.

Since 2001, Singapore - a close ally in Washington's war on terror - has arrested more than 30 JI suspects accused of planning to blow up the US embassy, a US navy base and other Western targets in Singapore.

Wong's warning came just hours after Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean acknowledged the struggle against militant Islam "may take generations".

Addressing a gathering of senior military officers from 22 countries, Teo urged moderate Muslims to speak out against terrorism, "for only they can effectively counter the ideology that has been twisted out of a perverted interpretation of Islam".

Meanwhile, the Philippines said today it planned to send investigators to Indonesia to interrogate a ranking JI militant arrested there last month.